Amazon taking control of in-app purchases in the Amazon Appstore

Amazon is finally taking control of in-app purchases in its Amazon Appstore for Android.

According to a report from Bloomberg, the online retailer is currently testing its own in-app payment system. The new system will support both one-time transactions and subscriptions. Amazon’s commission will be 30 percent, the same rate Apple and Google charge in the iTunes App Store and Google Play.

It’s not surprising to see Amazon rolling out an official in-app payment system for its Appstore. According to Distimo’s latest figures, the majority of top grossing apps on both iOS and Android now monetize with in-app purchases. Amazon rival Apple, which has always taken a cut of transactions made through its iTunes App Store, has already earned more than $1.7 billion from its 30 percent share of mobile app revenues.

The Amazon Appstore has already proven successful at delivering revenues to developers via in-app purchases. Last week Flurry reported for every dollar earned through in-app purchases on iOS, the Amazon Appstore delivers $0.89. With the success of the Kindle Fire, its also likely the Amazon Appstore market is now large enough to make developing an in-app payment system worthwhile. After the debut of the tablet in November, app downloads in the Amazon Appstore were 14 times higher than they had been pre-launch. Glu Mobile also reported its Amazon revenues had increased by more than 1,000 percent after the device launched.

It seems as the Amazon Appstore starts to look more like a viable alternative to Google Play, Amazon isn’t risking leaving revenue on the table. Although a 30 percent commission fee doesn’t make the Amazon Appstore a better deal up-front for developers, the store’s ability to deliver revenues through in-app purchases will still make it attractive to Android developers.